US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, on Thursday, said that “sanctions are a very powerful tool. And once we have sufficient, credible information about corruption or other abuses or legal illegal activity then we can take action.”

“And you saw, for instance, with the visa designations against the four corrupt judges. They were standing in the way of Georgia’s democratic development, standing in the way of Georgia developing a truly independent, impartial judiciary,” she went on.

The Ambassador underscored that “without an impartial judiciary, you’re never gonna have a strong, healthy democracy.”

“It’s so central to what is required for free and fair elections, for resolving business disputes, and for attracting foreign direct investment. It’s important for protecting people’s human rights. So when there is sufficient, credible information, then we do take action, when it’s standing in the way of something that is so fundamental for Georgians achieving their desired goal of being part of the Euro-Atlantic family.

You know, again, reforming the judiciary is not only one of the 12 priority recommendations that the EU has laid out, but it’s also part of the EU Association agreement that was negotiated between the government of Georgia and the European Union. It’s part of the NATO Annual National Program (ANP) that the government of Georgia negotiates with, or develops with NATO every year. So these are reforms that Georgia, the government knows need to be made.

There has been impressive progress made on many of them, but there’s more work to be done, and that is not a criticism, that’s just a fact. Getting to work on completing those reforms, making more progress in implementing those reforms, that’s in Georgia’s hands, that’s in the government’s hands. All it takes is the political will to follow through and do it,” she told media outlets.